Apple has admitted that it slows down older iPhones. Above is an iPhone 8. (Mark Lennihan/AP)

French prosecutors looking to take a bite out of crime are eyeing Apple.

Investigators in Paris have opened a criminal probe into the California-based tech giant after revelations that it had been intentionally slowing down older phones, a practice known as "planned obsolescence."

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In France it is illegal to slow down a product or degrade the quality in order to make customers buy a replacement.

Violating the law is punishable by up to two years in prison and a fine of 300,000 euros ($358,000), though the fine can also be increased to up to 5% of annual turnover.

Apple is also the subject of civil lawsuits in the U.S. over the obsolescence, though it is not clear if it will face any other penalty in its home country.

Officials at the European Union have recently made Apple and other American tech giants a target of policies, campaigning to get them to pay more taxes rather than avoiding them by setting up shop in low-tax countries such as Ireland.